Protected blade and packet



March 14, 193-9.

C. J. TUTTLE PROTECTED BLADE AND PACKET Filed Oct. 7-, 1936 r llk INVENTOR (M44 ATTORQEY Patented Mar. 14, 1939 PATENT OFFICE 2,150,592 PROTECTED BLADE AND PACKET Charles J. Tuttle, Newton Center, Mass, assignor to Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston,

Mass, a corporation of Delaware Application October 7,

2 Claims.

This invention relates to the packaging of fineedged blades, such for example as safety razor blades. In one aspect it consists in a blade protected completely by a novel wrapper or cover of sheet material. In another aspect it consists in a commercial packet of protected blades well adapted for purposes of distribution and from which the user may conveniently remove a single protected blade from time to time as he requires it.

In handling safety razor blades under commercial conditions of transportation and distribution and in the more or less casual treatment of such blades by the user, the extremely fine, keen edge of the blade is likely to become dulled by being brought into contact with its wrapping either at a fold vertex or by being drawn across or cutting the wrapper in being removed therefrom. On this account the best and most skillful efforts of the manufacturer in sharpening blades are often brought to naught, because of the damage done to the fragile and delicate structure of the blade edge after it has been brought to the keenest possible shaving condition and before the shaving operation is actually undertaken.

With these conditions in view an important object of the present invention is to provide a novel wrapper in which the blade may be ene closed and held positively in such position that its cutting edge is protected from contact with any fold vertex lines in the wrapper, while at the same time, a portion of the wrapper is made available for securing a number of protected blades in a stack or book. In certain aspects the present invention may be considered an improvement upon the protected blade cover or wrapper disclosed and claimed in the co-pending' application of Joseph M. Bowen, Serial Number 101,231, and in another aspect it may be considered an improvement upon the stack or book of protected blades disclosed and claimed in the co-pending application of H. A. Gustafson, Serial Numb-er 20,623. Both the protected blade and protected blade stack of the present invention fall within the scope of the inventions above identified.

It is an important consideration of the present invention to provide a wrapper in which a blade may be enclosed and held positively against displacement and for this purpose it is proposed to utilize a Wrapper with slotted end tabs arranged to interlock with the ends of the blade as disclosed in said application, Serial Number 101,281. As herein shown, the end tabs of the 1936, Serial No. 104,457

wrapper are utilized for this purpose and side flaps of novel characteristics are provided, that is to say, flaps of such construction that one or both of them may be folded over the blade in such a manner as to bring the free edges of both flaps in superposed relation andoffset beyond the contour of the blade. The free edge portions of the two flaps, therefore, supply areas which may be utilized in securing individual protected blades together in a stack. Moreover, by perforating or otherwise weakening one or both of the side flaps between their point of connection and the protected blade the latter may be easily removed from the stack by simply tearing across the weakened or perforated side flaps.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

- Fig. 1 is a plan view of the wrapper;

Fig. 2 is a plan view ofthe wrapper with its end tabs closed upon a blade;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the wrapper completely closed upon a blade, the latter being I shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 4 is a view in elevation, partly in section, of mechanism for positioning a blade above a partially folded wrapper;

Fig. 5 is a View in perspective of a bladepacket or book showing the cover opened; and

Fig. 6 is a similar View showing the cover closed. f

The wrapper blank, which may be made of thin. sheet material, such as oiled or waxed paper, as shown in Fig. 1, comprises a rectangular body portion Ill scored to define side flaps II and I3 and end tabs l5. The side flap II is relatively narrow and is provided with a rectangular recess or perforation M, which as herein shown coincides at its inner edge with the scored line defining the side flap. The side flap I3 is of considerably greater width and is provided with a similarly shaped perforation l4 so located that when the flap I3 is folded over the body of the blank upon the scored line which defines it, the free edges of the two flaps will substantially coincide and the perforation It will register with the perforation I2 beneath it. Each of the end tabs tapers outwardly to a straight end edge and is provided with a transverse slot 56. These slots are located without or beyond the fold lines of the tabs and have inwardly tapering end edges. The reentrant angles formed at the juncture of the side flaps II and I3 with the end tabs I5 supply convenient points at which the blank may be engaged and positively located for the wrapping operation by spaced pins or the like, not shown.

In the drawing there is shown for illustrative purposes a safety razor blade 20 of the Gillette type having oppositely disposed cutting edges and reentrant corner recesses which define in the blade elongated unsharpened end portions. The blade 20 or any other shouldered blade may be presented to the wrapper in automaticmachinery by a suction head 2| having nozzles which engage the surface of the blade at spaced points and maintain the blade in position by vacuum in the head. The head is moved by mechanism, not

shown, to carry one blade after another from' a.

stack in the magazine into position in alignment with successive wrappers which may be presented by a rotary turret or other carrying mechanism. The position of the blade 20 with respect'to the wrapper is shown in Fig. 4. The body of the wrapper I i] and the side flaps II and I 3 are held fiat or substantially so while the end tabs l5 are turned into the upright and parallel position as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l. In this condition the slots 16 are brought to the same level and the blade 20 is positioned between and in alignment with them. While the blade is so held the end tabs [5 are foldedsimultaneously inwardly by the action of blades 22 carried in the ends of bell crank levers 23, these being arranged to swing about horizontal studs 24 and connected together for simultaneous movement by intermeshing gear segments.

The primary action of the blades 22 is to swing the end tabs I5 inwardly until the end portions of the blade have entered the slots l6 therein. When this has once taken placethe blade 28 is quickly lowered upon the body of the wrapper l and simultaneously the end tabs ii are folded inwardly. The movement is continued with a toggle action until the tabs I have been brought down into contact with the upper face of the blade 20. In this movement the ends of the blade pass fully through the slots [6 and lie in contact upon the upper face of the folded tabs. It will be seen that in this operation the end edges of the shoulders formed by the recesses in the corners of the blade are brought into engagement with the material of the end tabs outside the ends of the slots l6 and that the longitudinal edges of the shoulders in the blade are thus held positively against transverse movement.

' operation is thus completed and Subsequently, the longer side flap I3 is folded about its fold vertex line, which is located without or beyond the sharpened edge of the blade, and brought across the blade with the end tabs lying thereon and into registration with the underlying unfolded side flap H. The wrapping the individual blades are fully protected against being dulled and'against exposure which would cause rusting.

The method of interlocking a shouldered safety razor blade with its wrapper is not herein claimed since it forms the subject matter of U. S. application Serial Number 101,281 above identified.

Having wrapped the individual blades as above outlined these may be assembled in a stack within a cover sheet of pasteboard, or the like, and secured together and to the cover by means of a fastening device, such as a staple [8 shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The fastening device passes through the two-ply extension provided by the superposed marginal edge portions of the folded cover sheet or wrapper outside the outer edge of the registering perforations l2 and M. In this way, or by equivalent perforating or scoring, the individually wrapped and protected blades are maintained in an enclosed stack where they are entirely protected and from which they may be readily removed one by one by tearing through the weakened or perforated section.

Having thus described by invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: I

1. A packet of protected blades, each enclosed in a wrapper which is connected to the blade in such a manner as to prevent transverse displacement of the blade therein, the wrapper having side flaps, one being folded on a vertex line outside one edge of the blade and both extending at their free edges beyond the other edge of the blade, presenting a two-ply extension in the wrapper and being recessed in superposed areas, the wrappers being fastened in astack outside the recesses in said superposed areas.

2. A packet of protected safety razor blades, each enclosed in a. wrapper having a body part underlying the blade, a narrow unfolded side flap with an elongated perforation therein, and a wide side flap folded across the bladev and overlying the unfolded flap forming a two-ply extension and fastening in the wrapper, an outer cover, means engaging the extensions provided by the side flaps outside said perforation.

CHARLES J. TUTI'LE. 

